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A bill that would provide needed billions for conservation has advanced through a House committee

A bill that has been described as "conservation game-changer" has been approved by a Congressional committee and awaits a vote in the full House of Representatives.

Called "Recovering America's Wildlife Act," the proposed legislation would provide $1.4 billion annually to state and tribal efforts to assist animal species of concern.

It was passed Dec. 5 by the House Natural Resources Committee.

“This (act) is the single most impactful wildlife conservation bill in a generation,” said Ron Regan, executive director of the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies.

The committee action was heralded by supporters as a sign of hope for the bill in the 116th Congress. The current Congress features Democrat control in the House and Republican control in the Senate.

Virtually identical versions of the proposal failed to make it out of committee in the two previous Congressional sessions when Republicans controlled both chambers.

Then, as now, the bill featured bipartisan support. The current version was co-authored by Reps. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., and Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb.

It would provide $1.397 billion in dedicated annual funding for proactive, on-the-ground wildlife conservation efforts in every state and territory.

“Why not be more proactive than reactive? Recovering America’s Wildlife Act is highly, highly innovative and effective,” said Fortenberry. “It’s the single most exciting policy development to come through Congress in decades. It protects ecosystems, protects communities and enhances our outdoor recreation economy.”

The bill would fund additional recovery efforts for the approximately 1,600 U.S. species listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

The majority of the money – $1.3 billion – would go to wildlife recovery efforts led by state wildlife agencies. This spending would be guided by the congressionally-mandated State Wildlife Action Plans, which identify 12,000 species of concern nationwide.

Tribal Nations would receive $97.5 million annually to fund proactive wildlife conservation efforts on tens of millions of acres of land.

Supporters of the bill say it complements the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act (Pittman-Robertson) and Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Act (Dingell-Johnson) which derive funding from excise taxes on sales of hunting, shooting, fishing and boating products and are primarily directed toward game species.

Spanning much of the 20th century, the two landmark conservation acts are credited with bringing species such as the wood duck, wild turkey and pronghorn back from the brink of extinction.

Unlike those acts, RAWA would get its funding without instituting a new tax or fee. It would instead draw the $1.4 billion from the approximately $5 to $12 billion the federal government receives annually in royalties from oil and gas development.

State wildlife managers are becoming increasingly desperate for new sources of funding.

“Right now more than one-third of all wildlife species in the United States are at heightened risk of extinction and demand immediate conservation attention," said Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. "(RAWA) is the most significant piece of wildlife legislation since the Endangered Species Act passed in 1973."

The proposal was introduced in March 2016 by the Blue Ribbon Panel on Sustaining America's Diverse Fish and Wildlife Resources.

A similar initiative started in the 1990s called Teaming With Wildlife produced a coalition of more than 6,400 organizations, businesses and agencies but failed to enact new funding mechanisms.

Under the panel's plan, the sum would be placed in the Wildlife Conservation Restoration Program and apportioned to the states. The WCRP was created by Congress in 2000 but has not received funding.

The WCRP would distribute money to the states according to a formula that accounts for geographic size and population. The state agencies would be required to provide matching funding.

Wisconsin would receive about $20 million annually under the proposal, according to a NWF assessment.

The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act is supported by a range of groups and corporations including the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, National Wildlife Federation, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, Shell Oil and Bass Pro Shops.

As of December, the bill had 157 bipartisan co-sponsors in the House.

"This historic bill is making important progress in the House and is showing that even in these divided times, wildlife conservation can bring all Americans together," O'Mara said.

The bill is not without its critics. The Center for Biological Diversity called it "well intentioned but deeply flawed” largely because it would provide 85% of funding to non-listed wildlife and 15% to species on the Endangered Species List.

“If we’re serious about addressing the extinction crisis, funding needs to go to the states with the most imperiled species and the most complex conservation challenges," said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the center. "Otherwise the Act will be little more than a boondoggle, while our most imperiled species continue slipping toward extinction.”

Since the funding would be diverted from revenue that now flows into the general U.S. Treasury, the proposal is also likely to be opposed by some fiscal conservatives.

To become law in this session, the bill will need to be approved by the full House, full Senate and get signed by President Donald Trump.

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